A mayoral debate in the Brazilian city of São Paulo turned ugly when one of the candidates attacked a rival with a chair, CNN writes.
There was a tense exchange between debaters José Luiz Datena and Pablo Marçal before Datena swung a chair at his counterpart.
Marçal required hospital treatment for his injuries. He had brought up old sexual harassment allegations against Datena that were dismissed several years ago.
“He came with a case that was archived, that was not even investigated by the police because there was no evidence. Something from 11 years ago that caused a very serious situation within my family,” Datena said.
Datena was expelled from the debate but insisted in a statement that while he had made a mistake he did not regret his actions.
Marçal’s team said he was treated for a possible fracture in the chest region and had difficulty breathing. The hospital said he had suffered trauma to his chest and wrist, but without any major complications. Marçal compared the chair attack to the July assassination attempt against former U.S. President Donald Trump and the stabbing of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during the 2018 election, posting an image of all three attacks on Instagram with the caption: “Why all this hate?”
